Buy new:
-40% £8.99£8.99
Dispatches from: Amazon Sold by: Amazon
Save with Used - Like New
£3.51£3.51
FREE delivery 24 - 25 February
Dispatches from: WeBuyBooks Sold by: WeBuyBooks

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
Hope & Glory: 'A sweeping, rich tale’ Bolu Babalola Hardcover – 7 April 2022
Purchase options and add-ons
'So deliciously South London.' - Yomi Adegoke, author of SLAY IN YOUR LANE
'A sweeping, rich tale that explores family, secrets, loss, love and redemption within the context of a tessellation of cultures - written with a beautiful texture, Benson pulls you in to a deftly-woven story with tautly-written sentences, and before you know it you find yourself in too deep to get out, too deep to want to get out, wanting to know more.'
- Bolu Babalola, author of LOVE IN COLOUR
'Jendella Benson has drawn such a compelling world that Hope and Glory, the book and the characters themselves, stayed with me long after I'd turned the final pages.' - Candice Carty-Williams, author of QUEENIE
Glory arrives back in Peckham, from her seemingly-glamorous life in LA, to mourn the sudden death of her father, and finds her previously-close family has fallen apart in her absence. Her brother, Victor, has been jailed; her sister, Faith, appears to have lost her independence and ambition; and their mother, Celeste, is headed towards a breakdown. Glory is thrown by their disarray, and rather than returning to America she decides to stay and try to bring them all together again. However, when she unearths a huge family secret, Glory risks losing everyone she truly cares about in her pursuit of the truth.
HOPE AND GLORY is a rich, heart-warming story of loss, love and family chaos, and marks an exciting new voice in fiction.
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTrapeze
- Publication date7 April 2022
- Dimensions16 x 4 x 23.8 cm
- ISBN-101398702293
- ISBN-13978-1398702295
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
From the Publisher




Product description
Review
Jendella Benson has drawn such a compelling world that Hope and Glory, the book and the characters themselves, stayed with me long after I'd turned the final pages. ― Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie
Hope & Glory is a wonderful book. The novel explores grief, love, friendship, dreams lost, life interrupted. All the characters are flawed, loveable, maddening and so honest you feel like you know them; the plot is compelling and touching at the same time. Jendella Benson has created a story that is intricate, beautiful and so very real. I held my breath, gasped out loud and devoured every gorgeous page. Just brilliant. ― Dorothy Koomson
A compelling and compassionate book that's at once heartbreaking and hopeful. Jendella Benson paints a family portrait that's tender and messy and true. ― Chloe Ashby, author of WET PAINT
Once I started reading, I couldn't stop! Jendella's writing is spellbinding, so beautiful. I felt every emotion on the page. ― Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, author of YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBAND?
Authentic and as heart warming as it is heart wrenching, Hope & Glory is a glorious ode to family life, love and loss. Jendella's writing is effortless, the characters leap off of the page and my favourite thing amongst so many? It's so deliciously South London. ― Yomi Adegoke, author of SLAY IN YOUR LANE
Engrossing, emotional and super relatable, especially to those from a West African background. ― Sareeta Domingo, author of WHO'S LOVING YOU
Stirring, startling, life-affirming. A wonderful read. ― Musa Okwonga
A dazzling debut. Jendella Benson is one to watch. ― Melissa Cummings-Quarry, Black Girls Book Club
An elegantly-written, heartwarming story filled with hope. Each character, family secret, and vulnerability is treated with such grace and care due to Jendella's fresh and tender writing. Can't wait to read what she shares with the world next. ― Lola Ákínmádé Åkerström
An elegantly-written, heartwarming story filled with hope. Each character, family secret, and vulnerability is treated with such grace and care due to Jendella's fresh and tender writing. Can't wait to read what she shares with the world next. ― Lola Akinmade Åkerström, author of IN EVERY MIRROR SHE'S BLACK
Book Description
About the Author
Jendella is Head of Editorial at Black Ballad - the award-winning digital platform for Black British women - and has previously been a columnist for Media Diversified, MTV UK, and Christian Today. She has written for Metro Online and Independent Voices, as well as had her visual work featured in The Guardian, The Metro, The Voice Newspaper, and on London Live.
Her short story, KINDLING, was published in The Book of Birmingham and her visual work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, most notably at the House of Commons, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and at the International Center of Photography in New York as part of ICP Projected in May 2018.
Finally, Jendella is a TEDx speaker who has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour, as well as speaking at various universities and conferences.
Product details
- Publisher : Trapeze (7 April 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1398702293
- ISBN-13 : 978-1398702295
- Dimensions : 16 x 4 x 23.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 486,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 40,576 in Women Writers & Fiction
- 55,090 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- 61,552 in Contemporary Romance (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Jendella Benson is a British-Nigerian author and editor whose acclaimed debut novel, Hope & Glory, was published in 2022. Her second novel, All That We’ve Got, will be published in July 2024. She has written for The Sunday Times STYLE, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Independent and is Head of Editorial at Black Ballad.
In 2023 she was a judge for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing and is on the advisory board for the award-winning Round Table Books in Brixton.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images

Amazing, amazing debut.
Top reviews from United Kingdom
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 November 2023Loved this tale, having lived in the exact area the tale was set with a Nigerian family.
The story brings light to so many issues, private fostering, mental
health, injustice, self discovery. I particularly liked the way it highlighted the perspectives of different generations.
I also liked the love story at the heart of it. Glory is self centered but is well in her way to learning and growing up.
Great debut novel I read it in one sitting. I look forward to reading more from Jendella.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2023This is a story of family, relationships and secrets. Mental health is explored, as well as race relations, fostering and being Black and British.
Glory was a glorious protagonist: flawed, passionate and relatable. Her frustrations are keenly felt due to Benson's superb writing, as well as her struggles in Los Angeles and attempting to navigate her life back in London.
The story flowed effortlessly. At its heart Hope & Glory is a family drama about unearthing long-lost secrets, but there is also an element of mystery - could it be that the sister Glory was told was dead is, in fact, alive?
I was so invested in these characters that I would love a sequel in order to explore their stories further.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2022The characters were just superb and multilayered. Felt like I knew each one. I was truly hooked from the very first page. I'm here for a sequel and even prequel!
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 May 2022Love the book, hard to put down
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2022Read a library copy as cannot afford space or money to buy hardbacks! Brilliant read. Benson has a real gift for evoking place and describing characters with humour, passion, insight and sensitivity. Given the vast editorial input, duly acknowledged by the author, I was surprised by a number of textual errors, mispelling of 'lead' when 'led' is intended, 'gave a hug hugged Faith', wrong name used in paragraph... Faith instead of Glory.
This did not detract from my enjoyment of this wonderful book, just surprised me.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2022Glory is my favourite type of protagonist – complex, engaging, and flawed. Watching her navigate her return to London and the various complicated relationships she left behind, I felt by turns sympathetic and frustrated, not always agreeing with her actions but always keen to find out what was going to happen next.
The writing hooks you immediately, and the story carries you along – it’s one of those books that you think to yourself, “I’ll just read a few pages,” and then suddenly you find you’re over halfway through. The prose has an easy flow to it that is deceptive – it’s the kind of writing that seems effortless but is in fact the mark of great talent. What struck me most about the story was just how intricate it is, each strand connecting the characters delicately woven, and yet nothing feels contrived, it all feels absolutely real. Glory’s relationship with Julian is especially well done – I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.
This is a character-driven novel that does not shy away from the complexities of family dynamics – even without the shocking secret at the core of the story, there are myriad other examples of the difficulties of negotiating relationships with parents and siblings, and wonderfully perceptive depictions of how the past shadows the present, and how tricky it can be to ‘start over.’ And yet – if you’ll excuse the pun – there is hope – a realistic, tempered kind of hope, that leaves the reader with a sense of optimism at the story’s close. The characters – especially Glory, Faith and Celeste – have stayed with me long after reading, and I’m looking forward to reading more by this talented author.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 May 2022I just loved this.
It was a great glimpse at the richness of Nigerian culture contrasted with the complexities of a British/Nigerian upbringing.
The characters were so real, being West Indian, the aunties in the book read just like every West African aunty I’ve come across. Though there is no translation for the Yoruba, I knew exactly the tone/gist of what they were saying; similarly without knowing exactly what the foods were I could taste the essence anyway.
Benson creates a great picture, and I can easily visualise everything, from the characters, their houses, their clothing and their personalities.
A great debut and easily on par with the other YA fiction I have read this year from both existing and upcoming authors.
Such an easy read that will take you through all the emotions and leave you wanting more. So much scope for more novels and I’d love to read more about some of the other characters and their lives and there view of the situation.
Really well done.
I just loved this.
It was a great glimpse at the richness of Nigerian culture contrasted with the complexities of a British/Nigerian upbringing.
The characters were so real, being West Indian, the aunties in the book read just like every West African aunty I’ve come across. Though there is no translation for the Yoruba, I knew exactly the tone/gist of what they were saying; similarly without knowing exactly what the foods were I could taste the essence anyway.
Benson creates a great picture, and I can easily visualise everything, from the characters, their houses, their clothing and their personalities.
A great debut and easily on par with the other YA fiction I have read this year from both existing and upcoming authors.
Such an easy read that will take you through all the emotions and leave you wanting more. So much scope for more novels and I’d love to read more about some of the other characters and their lives and there view of the situation.
Really well done.
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2022I think Bolu’s description is apt; sweeping and most definitely rich a tale. Going done as one of my best reads this year.
Jendella has got a real talent. Looking to read more from her.
Top reviews from other countries
- Susan AylworthReviewed in the United States on 25 April 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Kissing their teeth?
Is that a British expression? Everyone in this book seems to do it frequently, whatever it is. Except for that, which happened too often and pulled me off the page, this book led me through the lives of first and second generation Nigerian immigrants in the UK. It opened the mixture of cultures to me and introduced some topical issues. It also fleshed out some very human characters juggling complicated issues. Well done.